Greetings from Costa Mesa, California, USA!
Photo taken on Tuesday, November 4, 2008.
Last week - pumpkins, this week - politics. I wrote previously that this is the first presidential election since 1952 where neither candidate from the two major political parties previously held the office of President or Vice President. Current Pres. George H. W. Bush (Republican) had reached the two-term limit and V.P. Dick Cheney was not in contention. Bush’s predecessor, former Pres. Bill Clinton (Democrat) had also served two terms while former V.P. Al Gore had long ago ended Oval Office aspirations. My guesses were Mitt Romney (R), former Governor of Massachusetts, and Hilary Clinton (D), former Presidential First Lady. I was wrong.
A prevalent feeling was that something big was brewing. At one point several states considered changing the dates of their primaries, the calendar becoming a Chinese checkerboard with far too many players in motion. The mindset was that results of the first primary would set the direction for the rest and many states wanted that distinction. But that did not happen. For the Republicans the early primaries were won by different candidates but a definitive choice emerge soon enough –John McCain, Sr. Senator of Arizona. The Democrats had a different story as the top two favorites Hilary Clinton, Jr. Senator of New York and Barack Obama, Jr. Senator of Illinois, traded primary victories. But the latter slowly built a lead, becoming the first African-American from a major political party to run for President.
But something bigger was afoot. As a Vice Presidential running mate, Clinton would have been a definite candidate for the Democrats. To have either a black man or any woman as President or Vice President of the United States is unprecedented. To have both would have been beyond words. But Obama’s choice for V.P. was Joe Biden, Sr. Senator of Delaware. Perhaps capitalizing on his opponent’s missed opportunity, McCain chose a woman, Sarah Palin, Governor of Alaska, as his V.P. With that move, a White House “first” went from possible to definite but which “first” would it be?
Election Day is always the first Tuesday of November. Voters participated in record numbers and sampling polls projected Obama & Biden triumphant over McCain & Palin. While polling stations close at 8 PM, the media normally announces a victor after 11 PM Eastern Time as not to affect voting in time zones further west. Nevertheless shortly after the eleventh hour, Obama became the first African American elected as U. S. President.
My Election Day photo reflects the signs of the times literally as “Vote For This” and “Vote Against That” mixed with “Going Out Of Business” and “Everything Must Go”. Don’t forget For Sale and Foreclosure signs too. The economic downturn is global and bleak but remember a quote from Martin Luther King, Jr., “We shall overcome.”
Angelo
Photo taken on Tuesday, November 4, 2008.
Last week - pumpkins, this week - politics. I wrote previously that this is the first presidential election since 1952 where neither candidate from the two major political parties previously held the office of President or Vice President. Current Pres. George H. W. Bush (Republican) had reached the two-term limit and V.P. Dick Cheney was not in contention. Bush’s predecessor, former Pres. Bill Clinton (Democrat) had also served two terms while former V.P. Al Gore had long ago ended Oval Office aspirations. My guesses were Mitt Romney (R), former Governor of Massachusetts, and Hilary Clinton (D), former Presidential First Lady. I was wrong.
A prevalent feeling was that something big was brewing. At one point several states considered changing the dates of their primaries, the calendar becoming a Chinese checkerboard with far too many players in motion. The mindset was that results of the first primary would set the direction for the rest and many states wanted that distinction. But that did not happen. For the Republicans the early primaries were won by different candidates but a definitive choice emerge soon enough –John McCain, Sr. Senator of Arizona. The Democrats had a different story as the top two favorites Hilary Clinton, Jr. Senator of New York and Barack Obama, Jr. Senator of Illinois, traded primary victories. But the latter slowly built a lead, becoming the first African-American from a major political party to run for President.
But something bigger was afoot. As a Vice Presidential running mate, Clinton would have been a definite candidate for the Democrats. To have either a black man or any woman as President or Vice President of the United States is unprecedented. To have both would have been beyond words. But Obama’s choice for V.P. was Joe Biden, Sr. Senator of Delaware. Perhaps capitalizing on his opponent’s missed opportunity, McCain chose a woman, Sarah Palin, Governor of Alaska, as his V.P. With that move, a White House “first” went from possible to definite but which “first” would it be?
Election Day is always the first Tuesday of November. Voters participated in record numbers and sampling polls projected Obama & Biden triumphant over McCain & Palin. While polling stations close at 8 PM, the media normally announces a victor after 11 PM Eastern Time as not to affect voting in time zones further west. Nevertheless shortly after the eleventh hour, Obama became the first African American elected as U. S. President.
My Election Day photo reflects the signs of the times literally as “Vote For This” and “Vote Against That” mixed with “Going Out Of Business” and “Everything Must Go”. Don’t forget For Sale and Foreclosure signs too. The economic downturn is global and bleak but remember a quote from Martin Luther King, Jr., “We shall overcome.”
Angelo
